Jarvis Cocker pens Paris tragedy spoken-word tribute

Jarvis Cocker has unveiled a spoken-word track written about the Paris tragedy, entitled ‘Friday 13th 2015’.

Cocker revealed the recording via BBC Radio 6’s Sunday Service, during which he also played a number of Paris-themed and French tracks, including work by Serge Gainsbourg and Françoise Hardy.

The eerie normality of Cocker’s recording stands out, as he describes his day before during and after the attacks. It includes the words:

“I was going to bed, when a friend rang and told me to turn on the TV. I was worried about my son. I rang the friends house, but his parents were not home yet. They’d gone to the theatre. I didn’t want to panic them. I listened to the radio through the night. In the morning, I rang the friends house, and my son had left to catch the metro half an hour earlier. I was worried. He arrived home. We went to buy a new phone and some trainers, but all the shops were closed. I ended up buying a book about Kate Bush…”

He continues “a friend said the strongest statement of resistance is to just keep going,” and “We’re all free to mess up in our own way. I love the way that you’re doing it. I love the way that you’re free.”

Amongst the messages of love, Cocker pauses for a more literal description of poignant scenes in the aftermath of the attacks, before concluding “Paris, I love you.”

Listen in full here, via the BBC. the spoken word track begins at approx 1:00.50, and will be available for playback until around Christmas.

Press

130 died during the Paris terror attacks of November 13, 2015, including 89 at the Bataclan Theatre, attacked during an Eagles Of Death Metal concert. The band – whose merchandise manager passed away during attacks – have since done their first interview, though only a short clip has been released at the time of writing.

Earlier this year, Cocker discussed the likelihood of new Pulp material, saying:

“We’re very cloak and dagger about that, well, it isn’t cloak and dagger, we just don’t know! We’re not being mysterious, we’re just not very together.”

He continued, saying there had been “very little activity… It’s like a volcano, you can think ‘wow, that’s dormant’ and then the next day your house has gone, because it’s erupted… Everything to do with Pulp or to do with me happens at such a glacial pace, that’s it hard to tell whether anything’s happening or not, but when it does, the whole geography of the planet is changed.”
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